Yale dean apologizes for Yelp reviews that left students ‘floored’

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NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A dean at Yale University is taking heat for less-than-diplomatic Yelp reviews on anything from restaurants to gyms. June Chu, the dean of Pierson College, brought up race and class constantly.

June Chu, dean of Yale’s Pierson College. (Yale)

Though she has since deleted her Yelp account, Yale Daily News took screenshots of some of the reviews (and posted a PDF of the images here) that have “disillusioned” and “floored” some students.

In one review of a Japanese restaurant, for instance, she wrote: “To put it quite simply, if you are white trash, this is the perfect night out for you!” In another, she writes about “barely educated morons” at a movie theater “trying to manage snack orders for the obese,” and in still another: “If you were a white person who has no clue what mochi is, this would be fine for you.” Chu, who the New York Daily News reports was appointed dean last May, is apologizing thusly: “My remarks were wrong. There are no two ways about it. Not only were they insensitive in matters related to class and race; they demean the values to which I hold myself.” And while one administrator praised her for being “very honest” in her apology and says he’s not seeking her resignation, her words ring hollow to others who note she spent months writing in a consistent tone.

“I will never be able to look at her in the same way,” one student says, noting that Chu posted her reviews even though she “is trained in human development and psychology so should clearly understand the gravity of her actions.” (This woman’s Yelp reviews didn’t lead to punishment.)